DIY Valentine's Day Manicure

Valentine's Day nail art is one of the easiest to pull off... even if you don't have steady hand. And boy, do I have an easy one for you today!

This Valentine's Day Heart DIY mani requires no Scotch Tape, and no special brushes. Just polish.

What you need:

• 1 bottle of red nail polish (I used Mint Polish in Sweet Liberty)
• 1 bottle of neon pink nail polish (I used Illamasqua in Collide)
• 1 bottle of clear polish with hearts (I used a polish from Forever 21 by ncLA's Heart Attack looks just like it)
• 1 wooden orange stick
• Optional: 1 bottle of nail striping polish in a light pink

1. Paint 3 of your nails red. 

2. Paint 2 of your nails neon pink - I went with my thumb and ring finger.

3. On the neon pink nails: Use your orange stick grab a single heart decal from the heart polish. Arrange a few hearts (up to 4) on your nail, and allow to dry. 

This method avoids layering coats of polish on your nail, which will make the heart decals slide around, and not cling to your base coat like you want.

Optional: Paint one nail on each hand with hearts, and paint the other neon nail with pink stripes for contrast!

4. After hearts have been set, you can accent with red glitter (optional), or apply a top coat of your choice. 

5. Snap a nail #selfie and post on Instagram.

Enjoy!

Mani Monday: Butterfly and Rose Nail Art

I've been painting my nails with a lot of neon colors nail lately, but one of my favorite shades is a peach coral color by Forever 21's Love & Beauty line. As a base coat, it's perfect for adding designs to because it really lets the nail art stand out.

For today's Mani Monday, I created a nature inspired manicure with roses, flowers and butterfly wings. This was my very first attempt at roses and the butterfly wing, and I have to admit, I'm in love with the way this mani turned out.

To create rose nail art:

• For the thumb nail art, I painted two coats of the coral polish, and let it dry for 10 mins. Then, I used complimentary colors in pink and purple to create the roses by making unsymmetrical circles for the roses, and a green color from Ulta to accent the flowers with leaves. 

• Once the roses were dry (20 minutes), I took my Art Club Nail Art Duo Pen and drew accent marks in Black to create depth to my roses.  Finally, I used my Winstonia dotting tools I purchased on Amazon to make white polka dots.

The butterfly art... not so easy. If you'd like a video tutorial on how to create this mani, let me know! 

Mani Monday: Erdem Inspired Abstract Flowers

Partaking in my usual Sunday night ritual of painting a new mani for the week, I stared at my polishes and was uninspired. I'm always looking for new ideas for my diy manis, and usually, they come to me quickly. But, sick of my standard lines and dashes, I turned to one of my favorite nail blogs, Miss Ladyfingers, for inspiration.

If you don't know about her, then you are seriously sleeping on some sick nail art. She features DIY nail art inspired by fashion on the runway. 

After looking at her site, I decided to find some inspiration of my own. 

Erdem runway photos via Style.com

Eureka! Erdem's Spring RTW 2013 runway show, featuring uber bright florals with nods to the 70s. Described by Style.com as "nuclear orange" I immediately wanted to replicate the flowers on this dress.

The results:

To create the flowers, I simply dabbed a dot 3-4 times in clusters using Zoya's Heidi (orange) and Orly's Glowstick (a fluorescent yellow). The hints of light and dark purple on the petals were done using ultra thin Color Club polishes. And the base purple is Iris I Was from Sephora by OPI. 

How To Make Your Manicures Last Longer

Since my love for doing my nails and my own nail art is something I obsess about, I figured I'd share with you some of my all-time favorite tips on how to make your manicures last longer. 

These ain't your mama's tips either. Serious manicure tips and tricks going on here. 

Hope you enjoy my video, and have a fab weekend!

Top Nail Polish Picks For Winter Manis

Not all DIY manicures are created equal.

I'm sure you have your go-to summer nail polish colors, which may include pink nail polish, neons, and more glitter pots than Martha Stewart. But when the cold months kick in, don't neglect your nails by panting them in drab browns and ordinary reds.

Painting your nails with neons doesn't have to stop once winter sets in. You can still incorporate your favorite bright shades, and alternative between matte colors in classic shades such as green, red and purple.

Some of my picks for nail polish must haves for winter manicures include winter brights like Essie Leading Lady, butter LONDON Bossy Boots (an opaque green), and Deborah Lippmann Girls Limited Edition Nail Polish Collection inspired by the HBO series.

Essie Leading Lady
essie.com

Butter London Nail Polish in Bossy Boots
sephora.com

NARS Andy Warhol Nail Polish Collection in Superstar
saksfifthavenue.com

Maybelline Nail Polish in Pink Shock
target.com

Zoya Nail Polish in Evvie
zoya.com

SEPHORA X The Electrics
sephora.com

Girls Deborah Lippmann Limited Edition Nail Polish [Set of 4] Shows...
hbo.com



What's your go-to nail color for winter? 

Mani Monday: Metallic Striped Mani

Metallics are becoming my favorite nail polish. I'm turning to gold, silver and any type of metallic nail polish because nail art really pops against these lustrous colors. So, it only made sense that for today's Mani Monday post, I featured a combo of these colors!

This week's Mani Monday is crazy easy to replicate. All you need is your favorite metallic polish, pair it with a complimentary color, and then use another color for your free-hand snail art.

I decided to feature my favorite, and quickest nail fix, stripes, in this nearly effortless mani. 

And while I love glitter polish, it is quite the bitch to remove. A helpful hint I use is to warm up my nail polish remover bottle by rolling it between my hands. Sounds a little stupid, but trust me, room temperature remover works better than one that's sitting in a cold cabinet.

Neon Animal Mani -DIY!

Just a quick nail DIY post before the weekend... and TGIF in the worst!

I've seen manis with a pale nail (or just a clear coat on bottom), and figured I'd do something that makes the design stand out.

This neon animal print mani is super easy, and can be done with any colors. The trick is using an outline color, in this case, black. Use a nail polish with a super thin brush - and try to steady your hand as best as you can to create the animal spot's outline. Or, try a nail pen.

Enjoy! 

Mani Monday: Seeing Double

I will be one of the first to admit that there's a lack of fly nail joints in New Jersey. Can we get it together, people?

I simply have no alternative but to DIY my own designs - as every time I go to my friendly neighborhood nail spa, they give me strange looks when I ask them to do simple designs. Even asking them to paint one nail a different color is like asking them to carry my first born. It's uncomfortable, to be honest... so I rather just do it myself. 

And although this mani isn't the most creative, it's one of my favorites! I love the mixture of contrasting colors that compliment each other. I'll end up doing this a lot this summer, as painting my nails two colors like this gives me more to play with in terms of my manis matching my outfits. Simple and effective. I think so!

For this duo, I used Color Club's Disco Nap, which came with my Gossip Girl themed Birchbox for May, and Essie's Flirt. Love the metallic/coral combo!

Mani Monday: Freshly Intense

Day 23: 30-Day No Shopping Challenge

Since I didn't win the Mega Millions, it's back to blogging.
Oh, and...  I shopped this weekend. For Mike and Harley, that is.

I know how giddy I get when someone brings home a little somethin' somethin' for me, so why not share the love with the two fellas in my life who make me happy.

Mani Monday

Normally, I paint my ring finger a different color, but for this manicure, I figured I'd experiment a bit. Plus, I was itching to use Zoya's Heidi, a bold orangey coral!

Since I was short on time, I applied solid coats of Heidi and Julep's Helena, which I received in my February Maven box. I'm diggin' the purple and orange together. 

                

Julep's Helena

Zoya's Heidi

As for the glitter, it's Color Club's Backstage Pass - the chunkiest, biggest glitter nail polish I've found yet - stuffed with flecks of silver and purple with a clear topcoat. I wanted the color to stand out, so I applied glitter just along the sides. 

Color Club's Backstage Pass

Personally, this is my favorite mani yet. Neons and glitter - don't hate. Appreciate.

Oh, and are you taking part in my Instagram April Walk In My Shoes Challenge? #aprilwalkinmyshoes

DIY Nail Art: Animal Instincts

Who doesn't love getting packages in the mail?! When I received a box of goodies from one of my favorite bloggers and nail art enthusiast, Adiel of It's Because I Think Too Much, to say I was giddy is an understatement!

Among the reds and pinks she sent me were two colors that I immediately knew I was going to use to create something bright with: a creamy sea foam green from Forever 21's love & beauty line and a mauve pink from Opi.

I loved the colors so much, I whipped up some DIY animal print just so I can have a little bit of each in my nail designs.

The initial coats of my DIY nail art in progress.

The finished product! Black was used to outline the animal spots.

Mani Monday: Marble Nail Art

Marbling your nails can give you some killer nail art... but, it takes patience. The good thing: Different results every time so your nails will have a uniform, yet, variant look. The bad: Prepping can be time consuming (drying time takes at least 15 mins in my experience.) However, it does look dope when you're done.

What you need: 

1 plastic cup with room temperature water

Toothpick or wooden nail pick

Tape - I prefer Scotch 

Nail polish - as many colors as you choose

Before you marble, you'll need to tape up. Place a piece of tape below the cuticle and around the edge of your nail, covering any exposed skin. This keeps your finger clean from excess paint that you WILL get on your finger. You will need to touch up with nail polish remover... but tape will save you time.

To prepare your marble art, drop each nail polish color one at a time. The first color will start to disperse in the water, followed by the next creating a bulls-eye. This is exactly what you want. Drop each color quickly, at least twice for each polish. The polish dries on the surface of the water so you'll need to start marbleizing the colors with your toothpick/nail pick by drawing lines in the polish to create a marble look.

When you run your tool through the water, you'll be creating a marble effect, like so!

Next, dip your finger in the water and hold it there. Use your toothpick to remove any nail polish floating around your finger.

Remove your finger and your done! Wait 15 mins before applying the topcoat and removing the tape. You may have some water on your nail so let it dry completely or else you'll smear your topcoat with the nail polish you've just marbled.

For a better tutorial (not my own), check out some nifty YouTube videos from MySimpleLittlePleasures!

Mani Monday - Lightning Strikes Twice

Gosh I love me some nail art. I've said it numerous times, but NJ is barren with nail joints that do awesome nail art. I'm always looking for DIY ways to deck out my tallens, so when Adiel from It's Because I Think Too Much showed off her blinged out nails, I ran to find Nail Bliss Bling decals.

I ended up getting plain silver being that I already had 4 bottles of polish in my hand. And I figured it would go with any color I layered them with.

Here's the final product:

The stripes fit my nails exactly, and they were ridiculously easy to apply. Then, I created a lightning bolt on my thumbs for some additional contrast. This is probably one of my most favorite manis to date!